RODD CHANT

CHANGING DIRECTION CAN BE A GOOD IDEA.

Image © Rodd Chant 2012

During the past three weeks I have been working on some new plans for my creative operation, Parlor. It involves some new ways of working, some new thoughts on where I believe certain industries are moving towards, and also creating a way of working that balances out self satisfaction as well as business achievements, or to put it simply – a better work/life balance.

Changing course, be it a major shift in direction or a small deviation, is the fortunate prerogative of any small or independent business owner, and one that shouldn’t be shied away from if the desire is there.

Following the herd can be good for some, but for others it can lead straight to the meat factory or the edge of a cliff. For the brave few that decide to buck the accepted status quo and find a new path there are often rewards waiting for them.

Now this may seem like an odd analogy, especially from a business or career perspective, but there was recently story about this, as in not following the herd, and it resulted in a happy ending.

On April 11^th this year, in New Jersey, a young steer, who had already been delivered to the slaughterhouse, somehow broke free and made a run for it. His escape caught the attention of many on the streets, who were cheering him on, and he even had a Twitter account set up in his honor. You can read about his exploits here.

His decision not to stay with the pack garnered a positive outcome for him, as it was decided that he had earned his freedom and will now live out the rest of his days on a farm, and boy does he have a story to tell the other cattle (they do talk to each other, right?). Maybe he can teach some of the others his escape methods.

Putting bovine escapades aside, there is a more homo sapien story that I witnessed, at least partially, in person.

Harking back to my glorious days in the music business, there was a band that I had crossed paths with several times on the road, I even ended up appearing in one of their music video’s, but that’s another story.

The band was called The Cockroaches; they were a bunch of clean-cut guys playing pop rock songs that the female teen audience gravitated towards in the 80’s in Sydney, Australia. 

They had quite a nice following, they were selling records, appearing on TV, doing the touring circuit, and for all intents and purposes they were doing well for themselves. And, every encounter I had with them, they proved to be nice guys as well, which is an added bonus.

But as anyone knows, the music business is a harsh bedfellow and one that makes earning a good living not for the faint of heart. Hunter S. Thompson summed it up best – “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”

So there must have come a time when members of The Cockroaches decided enough was enough, maybe they grew tired of dining at late night burger joints on lonely highways, or it could have been the endless hours spent in the back of a mini van heading to yet another non-descript country town, far from family and friends.

Somewhere, on one of these highways, I’m guessing a plan was hatched, one that involved changing course, in quite an unexpected direction. It was a plan that turned The Cockroaches into The Wiggles, yes, The Wiggles, those of the colorful skivvies who are always trying to wake up Jeff.

The same year they switched course, 1991, was the same year I made my leap from the music business into the advertising business. There must have been something in the air or water that year.

A few years later, around 1997 or 1998, I crossed paths with The ex-Cockroaches again, this time it was on a sound stage. I was shooting a TV commercial on one stage, and on the neighboring sound stage The Wiggles were in full production mode.

It was here that I got a glimpse into how they continued to re-think what it was they were doing.

They were making their new DVD; it was a flurry of bright skivvies (of course), a pirate with a feather sword, and other characters that capture the attention of the younger set.

But they had streamlined the process, by having full editing facilities on site, so after a scene had been shot it went straight into editing. By the end of the day they had a fully finished product, a new one hour show ready to be packaged and released. We on the other hand were weeks away from from finishing our 30 second commercial.

When I saw their streamlined approach I thought it was genius, and again, they had proven to be the smart guys in the room.

All it takes is a quick search of the online business pages to see the phenomenal success that The Wiggles has become. I’m pretty sure they are not missing the greasy roadside burgers and late night mini van rides, okay occasionally they may, when nostalgia kicks in.

Changing course, or a little bit of re-invention, seems to have paid off for these guys, it didn’t harm them when they dropped one direction for another, in fact, it appears to have been the best decision they could have made. Maybe a few more of us need to take a leaf from Jeff’s book, and wake up to what’s possible if you’re willing to take a risk and change direction.

Rodd Chant

WHY YOU WONT CATCH ME WATCHING TV SHOWS ABOUT ADVERTISING.

Okay, call me a curmudgeon or a wet blanket, it’s fine, I’ve been called much worse, but I don’t watch Mad Men, and I seem to be one of the very few who don’t, especially in the industry I am involved in.

When people hear that I have never seen an episode and never plan to they look at me like I just pulled the head of a small child’s doll and did an Ozzy with it and ate it. The dolls head that is, not the small child.

There’s a simple reason why I don’t watch Mad Men, well a couple actually. First is that I am simply not a big fan of fictional drama shows on TV, now I know that the show portrays ad land of the past, but it is not from factual events, so for me it is just purely fiction and I am more a facts guy, hence why I like documentaries so much.

Another reason is that it is all in the past, now while I enjoyed studying history when I was in school, and I even topped my final year in high school in modern history (trust me, I was surprised too), but I loved modern history for a reason, as it was all about documented facts.

It’s nice to reminisce about days gone by in advertising, and there is no harm in it at all, but I’d rather live in the present and look to the future of the industry.

For the past 21 years I have lived and breathed advertising, it has been my day-to-day career for all those years, so it is nice to come home and think of something non-advertising related, and as I often teach eager young minds breaking into the industry - don’t look at ads or the advertising industry for inspiration, look further afield, ignore what’s been done, find something that is truly different to spark some ideas.

Now, I have been told from a film making perspective Mad Men is extremely well made, and I tip my hat to that. Hopefully the producers will one day make another show that I can watch and enjoy, one not made about the industry I’m in.

And that brings me to what is sure to be a blight on the advertising industry itself, and another show I have zero intentions of watching – The Pitch. Brought to you by the same network that airs Mad Men. 

Whatever possessed someone to create a show based on the day-to-day activities within a modern day ad agency? Moreover, what came over the management of the ad agencies that agreed to participate and bare all for this reality show.

It appears that Mad Men fever got the better of one too many people, both in the TV world and in the advertising world. Maybe some saw themselves as a character in the aforementioned fictional drama (if so, they truly need to get a life), or maybe they thought that millions of people would truly love to see what it’s like working within an ad agency.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not dumping on the industry that has treated me well and taken me to the four corners of the Earth to work. But I know the realities of working in an ad agency, and it is not filled with anything I can see as being worthy of an hour of anyone’s time to sit down and watch it.

Working in an ad agency is demanding, challenging, and involves hours of thinking (often in silence), talking, pouring over research and insights, thrashing out ideas (the really good and the really bad ones), meetings, meetings about meetings, and then some more meetings thrown in for good measure.

This is just the reality of the business, and it’s an accepted reality if you choose to follow this career path. I accept it and I know it is part and parcel of the realities of what I do.

There are of course fun elements of the job, and times when you get to do stuff that makes all the hard work in the office worthwhile, such as TV commercial or video shoots, photo shoots, recording music tracks, and so on. There is also the immense satisfaction in creating an idea that does the job it was intended to do, or even goes beyond, and you have one very happy client. 

It goes without saying that the participants in The Pitch will be playing to the cameras, so there will be no true sense of reality. Without some acting, for want of a better term, there simply wouldn’t be enough drama or interest on screen. 

Imagine a camera on a creative person sitting at their desk for hours on end trying to crack an idea for a brief. That’s ratings gold right there, folks.

Or maybe a camera in a meeting where media or production budgets are being discussed, again, bingo, there’s an Emmy coming your way.

How about camera’s focused on people doing their times sheets and answering emails? Prepare your speeches and dust off the tuxedoes; it’s red carpet time.

All joking aside, there is an even bigger concern about this show, more so for the agencies that participate in it, and that is that some, or many, clients or prospective clients may see them as belittling the process of creating fresh, insightful, and effective ideas for brands. A task that I was told from the day I started in this business was not to be taken lightly. Having a reality show about this process demeans it and turns it into a circus act.

This isn’t selling treasures found in the attic to some pawn shop, nor is it following the lives of some housewives who crave media stardom, from what I recall this is a profession that deals with millions of dollars in budgets and is responsible for the guardianship of the brands they are entrusted with. No, it isn’t rocket science, but it also isn’t reality TV fodder. 

If The Pitch somehow survives into a second season (stranger things have happened), I can see how it might play out. Snooki will get a job in one of the agencies to spice up ratings, Lindsay Lohan will be one of the clients (she will be launching her new diamond encrusted ankle monitoring bracelets), Donald Trump will be the CEO of one of the agencies, and the Kardashian’s will all star in any commercials that get made.  And with that we kiss goodbye to any remnants of credibility the ad industry had in the eyes of the consumers, and clients.

So on that note, I will now get back to watching some documentaries on the History channel about Bigfoot and UFO’s. Hey, they are real, no seriously, they are.

Rodd Chant

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS TO STOP LISTENING.

Image © Rodd Chant 2012

Pursuing a dream, passion, or idea can be a tough path to travel down.  It’s not too dissimilar to one of those bad teen horror movie plots, you know the ones, where there is always someone warning you not to go down a certain road, and you never know what is going to jump out and bite you.

But heading into the unknown is part of what makes going after what you truly want exciting and rewarding, plus there is a 99.999% chance you wont run into a horde of zombies.

Unfortunately it’s not the zombies that are the issue, it’s the well meaning friends, family, or person you happen to be sitting next to at a bar who you shared your mission with, yes, they can be your worst enemies, much more dangerous and destructive than zombies.

You see, not everyone has the same desire to break free of the accepted norms and do what they truly want to do. It’s so much easier to stay in a comfortable place, where every day is the same, the alarm goes off at the same time every morning, the same train or bus is caught at the same time every weekday, and the pay check goes into the bank account at the same time of the month, every month. For some that is heaven, and good luck to them, they have found what makes them happy.

It’s the ones who want something different that make the comfortable ones unsettled in their seat, they question why you would want to take a risk, throw caution to the wind and not know the outcome.

I wonder how many people told Sir Edmund Hilary that his plans were preposterous, or how many people told Richard Branson that releasing ‘Tubular Bells’ was a dumb idea, or how many people told Barack Obama he didn’t have a hope of winning the election.

If everyone listened to the naysayers then almost nothing would be accomplished and we would have a very boring world indeed.

If you have a dream, bring it to life, if you have an idea, take it beyond the piece of paper it’s written on, if you have a passion, embrace it with gusto. Go ahead and do it, no matter what people may say. Is there a guarantee of success? Of course not, but that is part of the journey, not knowing what’s ahead (and again, there will be no zombies, well, I’m almost certain there wont be).

Not listening to others can be your little secret if you are afraid of offending those close to you. Simply adopt the theory shared by Robert Downey Jr. – “Listen, smile, agree, and then do whatever the fuck you were gonna do anyway.”

Rodd Chant

OVER-THINKING KILLS YOUR CREATIVITY.

Image © Rodd Chant 2012

As a creative person, spontaneity is your friend and as such it should be embraced. But all too often I see creative people laboring over an idea, trying to force the big idea, without letting all the other smaller and maybe even wrong ideas simply come out.

The blank page is not an enemy; in fact it is your friend. I myself love nothing more than being confronted with a blank page or screen, as it is something you can fill up with whatever may come to mind.

That big idea may come from a simple doodle made on the corner of a page, or it may be hidden amidst a series of random thoughts laid down on a page, but if it weren’t for all that stream of thinking you would never make that discovery.

Street artists are a good example of spontaneous creativity, as are musicians. Experimentation delivered in an instant can produce great results, maybe not immediately, but eventually.

I’m a firm believer in stepping away from the computer screen, it’s a tool and not something to really think on up front. Yes, I know many will argue that they can sketch on their iPad or other tablet but trust me it just isn’t the same.

Go old school, grab a pen and a sketchpad and make things happen on a page. Anyone who knows me knows I will not leave my apartment without a Moleskine and a pen.

I truly believe that you have to come up with the wrong ideas so as you can get to the right ones. As a wise man by the name of Einstein once said – “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new”.

So feed a page with ideas, small ones, ones that may seem ridiculous or even wrong, but at least get them out of your head and onto paper. Once you’ve exorcized ideas from your mind you free up space to keep coming up with more.

And if you are still having a hard time finding that big idea, good, that’s all part of the process… not finding it will eventually lead you to it.

There is no right or wrong, but it is wrong not to write it down.

Rodd Chant

BE A TRAVELER, NOT A TOURIST.

Image © Rodd Chant 2012

I wish I had coined the above phrase, because they are words to live by. The first time I heard it was from Anthony Bourdain, I have no idea if it was his creation, but it stuck with me.

I’ve been lucky enough to travel almost all my life, with my first major trip being at age six to the UK. From there, international travel was a regular part of my youth, due to my Father’s job at an airline.

My wanderlust was firmly embedded in me from that young start, and it saw me continue to travel non-stop once I had outgrown the family vacations, and it was the motivation that took me overseas to live and work a number of times.

There seems to be far too many people in this world who don’t travel, sure, they may go on trips somewhere, but are they really traveling? How many go off the well-trodden path to experience something different?

Recently I was taken aback by a conversation I was having with someone who was smart, running a company, and seemed worldly wise. The conversation turned to my years living in Singapore, I was then asked what it was like to live in China and how did I manage the language barrier.

To be honest it took all my will power not to say “WTF?”, but I restrained myself, and calmly went about explaining that Singapore was not in China and that the citizens speak English, this revelation was greeted with amazement.

I’m not saying everyone should know every detail about every country, by my “other home”, Singapore, is quite a well known place, even Bob Hope and Bing Crosby made a famous film about it in 1940, so it’s been on the radar for a while in popular culture.

Maybe if everyone traveled just a little more there would be a better understanding of the world we all live in, not just our respective countries.

Try something different next time you’re planning to travel, write down twenty possible destinations, places you’ve never been to, and may not normally have considered, and put them in a bowl. The first one you pull out is your next adventure.

So, with that in mind, I’ll leave you with a quote I do know the source of.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving” – Lao Tzu

P.S. He’s not from Singapore.

Rodd Chant

 

WHAT IS THAT SOUND?

The other morning, whilst strolling to the subway, dodging other commuters as they scurried along the sidewalk like ants towards a discarded piece of food, I heard a rather pleasant sound.

Now, as anyone who lives in New York City knows, hearing pleasant sounds isn’t all that common, it’s not to say they don’t exist, it’s just that they are fighting to be heard amongst the sirens, honking horns, and panhandlers asking for a quarter.

The sound I heard was emanating from a gentleman who was unloading some very heavy looking boxes from the back of his delivery truck. And no, before your mind wanders, the sounds had nothing to do with what he ate the night before.

The sound was whistling. He was happily whistling away a tune whilst heaving these boxes onto a trolley and wiping the sweat from his brow. This work by no means looked like fun, and as an ex-roadie I felt his pain, but here he was happily whistling away as he worked. He seemed content and happy.

As my journey progressed up the sidewalk, head down as I keep an eye out for any unwanted gifts left behind by errant canines, I could still hear the tune from the delivery guy, until it finally faded into the distance. But it was soon replaced.

My short walk to the underground world of NYC commuting takes me past a construction site, as does almost everyone’s sidewalk travels at some time in NYC, and it was here that the delivery guy had a fellow tunesmith.

Amongst the dust and grit of this site was a man hard at work, wearing enough dirt on his face to look like a commando who was wearing camouflage in the jungle, he was shoveling up debris and as he was doing this he was contently chirping away a tune to himself.

These encounters with free music (don’t tell iTunes or they may find a way to charge you for it) made me think about other work environments, more so the ones I have been involved with over the years in my advertising career.

Looking back, I remember hearing a lot of complaining, people unhappy with their jobs, some complaining about clients, others about co-workers, and some just bemoaning life in general. Basically I recall a lot of sour notes and not that many happy ones, in the form of what I had just encountered.

Now I’m not saying that everyone should walk around whistling at work, in fact, that could have the tendency to become annoying, especially if far too many can’t hold a tune, but it shouldn’t be hard to enjoy what you do.

If you’re in a paying job, with a coffee machine and free bagels only feet from your ergonomically designed chair, an illuminated Mac sitting in front of your resplendent in its display of Facebook page, some news or gossip page, maybe iTunes and more all hiding the work email window, then you may just have reason to whistle every now and again.

It becomes all too easy to complain and find fault, and blame others or organizations for your happiness, but the last time I looked at someone standing at the coffee machine, chowing down on that bagel, I didn’t see a prison guard standing by them with a truncheon ordering them back to their desks, they were in fact free to go at any time.

Make the most of what you have, find ways to improve what’s not working, offer up solutions instead of just airing problems. And if all else fails, walk away, it’s that simple.

Oh, and just in case you are not up on your history or art, the picture is of Whistler’s Mother, yes, a cheesy visual gag, but I couldn’t resist it, but hey, you’ve got to have some fun sometimes, right?

Rodd Chant

AD NAUSEUM

After a self-imposed break from writing for a couple of weeks, due to personal reasons, it’s time to get back onto the keyboard.

But, taking a short break gave me time to think about a few things, some being what I do for a living and have done these past 20 years (damn has it been that long?).

As anyone in the advertising industry knows, there has been a major shift in the business and there will continue to be more. A lot of this has been to changes in consumer behavior and the way in which consumers can interact with brands online and elsewhere.

These changes have given a lot of control to the viewer of brand communications. Those not willing to accept change will no doubt fall by the wayside.

One of the biggest changes is the need to stop pummeling consumers with random, ineffective messaging that mean nothing to them.

Not only is it annoying, it is also a major waste of money and time.

In 2007, Sao Paulo banned all forms of outdoor advertising, stripping the city bare of any cheesy billboards or badly targeted posters. I don’t have any stats or figures on this, but I am guessing it didn’t bring down their economy or put brands out of business.

Maybe advertisers in Sao Paulo had to think of smarter, more effective ways to connect with their consumers; maybe it made them think a little harder.

Myself, I’m not against a good billboard or outdoor poster, in fact, I quite like seeing great creative ones, but that’s the problem, they are few and far between and often get lost in a see of mediocrity and sameness.

Street artist Banksy wrote a piece recently about advertising, you can read it here. Now while some may argue that Banksy himself creates a form of advertising for himself and his brand, which is a fair observation, he does hit some key points in what he writes.

It would benefit brands and agencies if more were to truly look at ways to entertain, inform, inspire, and maybe even encourage their audiences.

With so many options available, from digital and traditional through to ever emerging technologies, it would behoove all involved to think a little smarter.

If we all did that maybe our perception, as advertising professionals, in the eyes of many would be raised a few notches higher than that of our nearest neighbor on the ranking charts, the used car salesman.

Rodd Chant

TREAT YOUR PERSONAL LIFE LIKE A START-UP.

Image © Rodd Chant 2012

You can’t turn a page, or a corner, without hearing about a start-up; they have become a part of our regular conversations.

There’s a lot many of us could learn from start-up culture, and use in our day-to-day lives.

1. DON’T BUY IT UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED IT.

Bootstrapping is the mantra of the start-up; most are run on just a couple of trusty laptops.

Over consumption is not only bad for your bank balance, it’s not so good for the planet either. Try a bit of self-restraint, if you don’t need it to survive then think twice before buying it. As the saying goes – “He who dies with the most toys; still dies.”

2. EVERY MINUTE COUNTS.

When you have to get something up and running, on limited funds, you know that every hour of your day matters to you and your fledgling business. 

Make the most of all your time, whether it be at work or at play, or even at rest. Once that time is gone it isn’t coming back. 

3. KNOW YOUR BRAND.

Every start-up has a brand; they know what they want their product to be.

You are your own brand; so make sure it’s what you want it to be. If you’re not doing what you want to do, get back on brand and re-focus.

4. LOVE WHAT YOU DO IN YOUR LIFE.

Start-up founders love what they are doing, it becomes a passion.

Is what you’re doing with your life a passion? Do you love what you do everyday? If not, change it.

5. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH LIKEMINDED PEOPLE.

The people in a start-up have a shared vision, they come together to make something happen, and they roll with the punches as they push forward.

When you have people around you who share similar values, goals, and ambitions, it’s amazing how different your life can feel. You don’t need negative people in your life; let them drift away, you wont miss them.

6. GET BUSINESS CARDS PRINTED.

Even if you are in a job where you don’t need business cards, get some anyway. In this digital age, business cards still have a role, and you never know who’ll you meet.

7. BE RESOURCEFUL.

Make the most of what you have. If something’s broke, fix it, you don’t always have to replace it. As an ex-roadie I can attest to the value of having a roll of gaffer tape always on hand, it turns you into an instant MacGyver.

8. KNOW WHEN TO CUT YOUR LOSSES.

If something isn’t working, and you have tried long and hard to make it happen, then there are times when you just have to step away and let it go. There’s no shame in something not working out; it’s not a failure, it’s simply a life lesson.

9. CASH IS KING.

The more you have, the better position you’ll be in, always. Debts, especially on credit cards, only end up slowing down your progress in life.

10. DREAM BIG.

The start-up world is full of dreamers, people who had an “aha” moment (I’m talking ideas, not one hit wonder bands from the 80’s), and amidst negative responses from many they forged ahead.

There’s no harm in dreaming, in fact it should be a pre-requisite for everyone. Dreams don’t harm anybody; have them, share them, and follow them with gusto.

11. WHERE YOU’RE BASED ISN’T IMPORTANT.

Most start-ups have tiny, unassuming offices, ones that don’t cost the world and serve the purpose they need to serve.

You don’t really need opulence to be happy, your home doesn’t need to impress anyone, as long as it’s home to you and you’re happy with it, that’s all that matters. If it keeps the weather out, it’s basically doing its job.

12. LEAD. DON’T FOLLOW.

Start-up founders, even the youngest ones, are leaders, they want to take charge and see their vision brought to life.

There should be no difference in your personal life, you’re in charge of yourself; it’s up to you where you take yourself.

13. BE YOUR OWN BOSS (EVEN IF YOU’RE EMPLOYED).

You can still control so many elements of your job if you work for someone else. There are many ways to be an intrapreneur within an organization (maybe that’s something I can address in another post).

14. GET A DOG.

Every start-up office (well, most of the cool ones) have a dog, you should too. 

The only downside to all this is that you can’t do an IPO on your life, but as they say in the classics… money doesn’t buy you happiness.

Rodd Chant

THE DEATH OF ADVERTISING HAS BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED.

Image © Rodd Chant 2012

With a tip of the hat to Mark Twain, I’d like to challenge the rumor going around about the sudden death of advertising, with some it has become a rally cry, but I’m sorry to say I just can’t agree. 

Advertising, for all intents and purposes, is far from dead; it is in fact living and breathing.

Just yesterday I was in a taxi passing through Times Square (bad decision at the best of times), and to my surprise I was visually bombarded by guess what… advertising. Add to that the video screen in the back of the taxi that was showing me advertising, and when I got home and flicked on the evening news on TV you’ll never guess what I saw… advertising.

I know; I was as shocked as you now are. I mean, if advertising is dead that means I must have either (a) been having some sort of strange dream; or (b) I was somehow transported into a parallel universe where advertising still exists.

According to several dictionaries that I checked, advertising was described as –

noun

The act or practice of calling public attention to one’s product, service, need, etc., especially by paid announcements in newspapers and magazines, over radio or television, on billboards, etc.: to get more customers by advertising.

So, it would appear to me, that, if there is a brand attached to the message, and if that brand is paying at all for any services, to an agency for creative services or for media space in any way, shape, or form, they are in fact committing an act of advertising.

The other anomaly in the argument about the death of advertising is that the firms themselves who are making this declaration are out there selling and promoting their services and trying to drum up business, so they are in fact advertising themselves. Even a business card is a form of advertising.

Now that’s not to say that advertising itself is healthy and full of vim and vigor, far from it, it has some issues, but it also has some promise for the future, it’s not quite ready for the stonemasons chisel and hammer.

What has died is the limited amount of ways a brand can communicate with its desired and prospective audiences, that’s long gone, thankfully. The opportunities presented online, and especially within the ever-growing social arena, and with mobile, present more connection points between brands and consumers than ever before.

Now the thinking can be much broader, more diverse, and create ideas for places that were never previously imagined, or better still, it opens up the opportunity to create a new space for that message altogether. This would all come under the ‘etc’ in the dictionary definition of advertising mentioned above in my humble opinion.

There should be no stigma attached to the ‘A’ word, it is what it is. Instead of trying to re-invent the word, we’d all be better served by re-inventing the industry itself. The music industry had to do it, they didn’t decide that the word ‘music’ was the problem, no, it was the way they connected and sold products that was part of the issue, but as a whole it was their industry that was the problem.

So why aren’t more practitioners of advertising doing the same, instead of following the same old beaten paths and trying to invent new buzz terms or align with current ones that already seem tired and overused.

What I wish for are more rebels, more risk takers, more of the kinds of people that ignore the rules, and change the playing field altogether. These people can come from within the industry, there is nothing stopping that from happening.

What the advertising industry needs is new thinking, not for their clients, but for themselves. There was a great article in Fast Company not that long ago that discussed why advertising agencies needed to act more like tech start-ups, and I couldn’t agree more.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1767725/taking-ownership-in-ideas-how-ad-agencies-can-really-act-more-like-tech-start-ups

So, before too many of us start preparing eulogies for the word advertising, how about sitting down with a piece of paper and a pen and start thinking of ways to do things differently, maybe some of the old ways of working in advertising will be able to help re-invent it, like when people used to come up with brilliant ideas for a brand on the back of a napkin. Joe Gebbia, of the successful tech start-up Air Bed & Breakfast, told the audience of PSFK’s NYC Conference how his new company idea was created in a Moleskine notebook, yes, a tech start-up created on a piece of paper and not on a computer screen, who would have thought.

http://www.psfk.com/2011/09/joe-gebbia-tells-the-airbnb-story.html

There’s still time to do something, it’s not too late. But if it does die, someone will make a lot of money if they can work out what to do with all that advertising real estate that clutters up Times Square. I know, they could get brands to run some consumer generated viral videos on screens there and the brand could get a lot of attention, oh, hold on, that’s advertising.

Rodd Chant

RULE #1: THERE ARE NO RULES. RULE #2: REFER BACK TO RULE #1.

Image © Rodd Chant 2011

All too often I hear people say they are looking for exceptional ideas or solutions to marketing or brand problems. And that’s great, I am all for exceptional ideas.

Only problem is they are looking for these ideas and solutions in the same places they always look for them, which to me doesn’t make any sense at all.

Albert Einstein said it best – “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

The advertising/brand communications industry has had a system in place that has worked well in the past. But then, a funny thing happened at the office, things changed, and they changed very fast.

Suddenly the tried and true methods were out the window, gone was the 30 second TV spot with the loosely connected print campaign, and along came virals, social, mobile, and so much more.

On a daily basis the game changes, it’s like you have to call an audible on almost every challenge put in front of you. To be honest, I love that, as it makes the business even more exciting.

But sticking to old models of cubicles and rooms full of people who are tasked to come up with these solutions doesn’t seem to make sense any more.

Now, more than ever, there are pools of talent who wish to remain independent, but are more than happy to contribute fresh thinking.

Better still, these talented people can be found worldwide, so you can get different perspectives, and it’s only and email or a Skype away.

Creative thinking doesn’t require a physical presence in a room, the important part is the ideas and the solutions, once you have them, the rest can fall into place.

There are some that will challenge the notion of bringing someone in to work on ideas for a brand that are not fully embedded in that brand, and as such wont fully understand it. Balderdash. I so love that word; it must be used more often. That is one of the worst excuses I have heard in my twenty-year career.

Any seasoned advertising/brand communications professional should be able to read a brief and accompanying information, have a discussion with the stakeholders, and then get on with the task at hand.

Many a time, when I was an ECD, I brought in freelancers to crack difficult problems, and they did just fine. In fact, due to them not being overly immersed in the brand, and past work that had been done, they came at it from a completely fresh perspective and as such delivered great thinking.

Following too many rigid rules and paths eventually has a Pavlovian effect, in my opinion. And the last thing any brand needs is the same reaction to every brief.

Throwing out the rulebook would behoove many clients and agencies alike, as it would allow them to truly think outside the box, or the cubicle, when it comes to seeking new ideas.

Oh, and when you do throw it out, please remember to place it in the recycling trash bin. Okay, that’s kind of a rule in itself, but it’s a good one. 

Rodd Chant